I was all set to get a deluxe or collector's edition, but the prices are eye-watering even for a non sub. Also a bit disturbing that they've put an elite skill in there after promising that they would not have anything which affects gamebalance up for sale.

I was fully expecting to buy the CE for the game, but after seeing the prices, I'm definitely turned off. None of the items are particularly appealing either, there's no unique visual effects this time and most of the perks are temporary, one off boosts.. No thanks.

I wouldn't worry too much about the skill or the band though. The unique elite skill is just a reskin of the regular summon wolf ability (this one gives you a ghosty looking wolf instead) and it's based on one of the racial skills, which are typically a lot weaker than the profession specific ones. The band gives you a negligible stat increase, it'll be worthless after level 15 or so, it's obviously meant as a "head start" item.

Regardless, I don't think giving out collectors edition bonuses is quite the same as simply selling skills/armour on the ingame store (otherwise, you should be complaining about the Hall of Monuments). GW1 handled the cash shop very well, so I really wouldn't be concerned with anything game breaking for GW2.

I was following it fine and agreeing, then I read that you can cash in gems for in game gold. This effectively let's you buy gold for real money. This will fuck any attempt of a balanced in game economy as your in game wealth (and to some extent your in game success as you buy up to date weapons and armour from the AH) is dictated by your real life disposable income... You should be able to just buy a game and play it on a level playing field, but how is the kid who earns £10 a week on a paper round supposed to thrive in the game the same way some working professional who has money to blow with no thought or consequence...

But there are no statistical advantages to be gained. Someone who spends a bit of time can get some armour that will be as effective as some that costs real money. It'll just not look as fucking awesome.

But even then, someone with little or no spare cash to splash can trade in game gold for gems and buy the same thing.

Seems fair enough to me. It looks very similar to the EVE PLEX system, as the chap says himself, and that hardly ruined the game. It remains to be seen on how it affects a game with no monthly fee, but as long as they are very harsh on third party RMT, it sounds like a great way to make a game free to play where otherwise it wouldn't be.

Well, even in Eve you can buy cheap RMT ISK and PLEX from farmers, but a friend of a friend (yeah, I know) bought some dodgy PLEX and they got removed from his account when CCP found out. It'll still exist but hopefully the majority of the money will go to the developers.

Managing gold is just a fun part of an MMO, just like levelling up, managing skills and trading to maximise profits and make some money.

In GW2 theres no point. I earn a decent wage in my job and will just buy gold that I need. I know how this affects the enjoyment of the game, as the same happened to me in WoW. I started buying gold from farmers at really low prices and I was swimming in the stuff. I could buy anything on the AH, level professions on a whim and respec/waste money on whatever I wanted. The game became so hollow for me. You could argue that I shouldn't do it if I want the game to stay pure, but if the option is an intrinsic part of the game structure (and everyone else is doing it) then it seems folly to avoid it.

I shouldn't whinge about it too much, as the exchange rate will likely be very expensive. However, my point was that I disagree with their in-game money/real world money relationship.

There needs to be demand for gold in order for the exchange to be worth anything. If everyone just wants gems to be the cash shop vanity items, you're going to need a LOT of gold just to get a handful of gems.

It should also be noted that most of the best gear can only be obtained via karma, glory or dungeon tokens. Those things are still untradable and require you to actually be good at the game. So if the fear is that you'll have nothing fancy to show off, don't worry. We don't even know if there are armour/weapon sets available just with gold.

The beta has been unimpressive. Two or three years ago and the game would have been revolutionary but itís clearly been in development too long. Itís Rift basically. Dynamic events, girly-men character models (nice dresses through) and largely nonsensical storyline which seems unimportant.

A lot of the things theyíve talked a lot about (the area based quests which just pop up, for example) are exactly the same as you see in Rift with the rift openings or the area quest stuff you saw in Warhammer (in fact itís exactly that but with better scaling) but rather than just a few quests being like that ALL quests are like that. The different is not at all novel.

The only huge differences from the standard model of MMO are dodging (nice) and the fact that most quests can be completed multiple ways Ė thatís not as good as it sounds. Itís more like (literally) water ten plants, feed ten cows or kill ten worms (but it doesnít say ten Ė it gives you an obscure progress bar instead). No worse but certainly no better. The final different I could see was the death revival thing... which works exactly like it does in Borderlands. Thatís fine, but itís not a game changer.

Content scales which is a problem. There is no point grouping. They may not have set the balance on difficulty yet, but as it stands grouping will just slow your levelling down.

Powers are pretty. Being able to fire and move your basic ranged attacks is nice. The female characters look great (but the male ones all look like Legolas). But... other than that itís depressingly generic.

GW1 fans will lap it up (maybe, I have some reservations about the competitive PvP Ė ranged classes seem overpowered with kiting at lower levels). I donít think it has anything to offer anyone else though. Iím super disappointed.

I think the fact there are multiple objectives for the dynamic events is what really sets it apart from the typical MMO quest of "go here and kill/get 10 of these". Yeah, you might just feed 10 cows and end the event, but that's a very basic example. There's always other players around helping you to complete the progress bar too, so while some players might be putting out the fires in a burning village, others are killing the enemies or rescuing villagers.

I think there's a great sense of team work, which really goes far beyond the typical group play you see in other MMO's. The fact it can be played completely solo (aside from having others join in for DE like that) is also hugely appealing for many.

The biggest differences I think will come later though, with the fact there's no gear treadmill, no level grinding and instead content is designed to be actually fun, challenging and everyone is essentially on a completely even footing. It's not a game for everyone and if you're a fan of WoW or SWTOR, you might not be able to find what you want here.

You're mistaken WinterSnowblind. Other people do not push your bar up; progress is individual apart from the larger boss type quests. While there are some world ones most seem to be completely random when they appear.

Unless I'm very confused, everyone contributes to the events, even if you're only helping by completing small tasks. Once the event is over, it'll move onto the next part of the chain, which wouldn't work if everyone had their own instances of the events to complete. You even get a contribution score at the end of each DE which give appropriate rewards, depending on how much you contributed to the event.

And all max level gear has the same stats, they aren't just constantly dangling the carrot in front of your face. There are obviously different tiers of gear up to the max level, but that's not a treadmill, it's just progression.

Incorrect. That only applies to the occasional ďworld bossesĒ and randomly timed events.

For example, in one area near the start you get a personal quest to kill enemies or destroy their siege supplies. Only you can progress this. However, occasionally it spawns a friendly NPC and waves of enemies to attack him and you get joint progress for how far he gets/how much you kill his attackers. Itís not a quest you usually see Ė it just appears when it appears.

In another example, pretty much the first quest out of the starting area, you go to a farm. Your personal quest in the area (no joint progress) has you killing worms, watering plants or feeding cows (real heroic after SWTOR has you saving the universe out of the box... but whatever; it's all just fluff). Occasionally a boss mob spawns, joint takedown with a chest dropping personal rewards, or some bandits turn up Ė again joint contribution. But those quests were random Ė triggered by the number of people in the area from my observations.

In every other regard its stock MMO. Once again, itís not a bad thing itís just not the innovation theyíve hyped it as. Itís not even an evolution - it's like MMOs greatest hits.

Apart from that itís a fine game. For free to play Iíd say itís damn good (but utterly conventional). But, point of fact, this offers no competition to the standing crowd of games. Itíll do fine but it wonít rock anyoneís world. Blizzard can certainly rest easy (which is a shame, as they need another kick up the ass).

SClaw I have a friend in the beta and I watched them play. In the exact same area you describe, the farm area where you had to feed cows, water crops etc, the progress bar filled up even when he did not do anything. It IS a joint "quest" if you will. Your wrong in thinking only your progress contributed. I just don't want false information been told about the game. Look at various youtube videos if you don't believe me.

That's not right. At least, that's not what I've experienced while playing. I didn't actually try that specifically, I have to admit, but it didn't seem that way at all.

That - by the way - was not really an issue for me. In fact if it does progress via group then it's stupid. You could just stand around and let everyone else grind for you? That's... so retarded I just can't believe it's true. It's not like getting the best contribution really equals the effort otherwise (at the moment it's just an XP orb thing but it's not an impressive amount).